Means for preheating the air supply to a gas producer



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Patented Mar. 13, 1934 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE MEANS FOR PREHEATINGTHE AIR SUPPLY T A GAS PRODUCER Axel Svedlund, Orebro, Sweden 1 Claim.

The object of this invention is to increase the efficiency and improvethe economy oi plants for generating power from gas, especially producergas for internal combustion engines. In such plants a gas-producer, acooler for the gas leaving the producer, a fan propelling air forcooling the cooling medium of the engine and a gas purifier generallyare provided.

The manner in which the said members have l0 been combined and haveco-operated, however,

leave a great deal more to be desired, for which reason the efciency andthe economy have not been satisfactory.

The present invention is'characterized chiefly l by the fact, that thesaid members are so com bined, that the cooler of the producer gas andthe cooler ci' the cooling medium oi the engine are located by eachother in the direction of the air current supplied by the ian, so thatthe same air current is used for cooling both the said coolers, and thatbehind the coolers in the direction of the air current the mouth of thepipe supplyn ing air to the gas producer is located, so that partly theair preheated. by the coolers passes into the said pipe and is thenstill more heated while passing to the producer, and partly an excess ofpressure is imparted to the said air.

Further characteristic features of the invention will be clear from thefollowing description of the forni of execution of the inventionillustrated as an example in the accompanying drawing.

Fig. l is a side view with some parts in section of the producer', thecoolers and pipe connections. Fig. 2 is a front View oi the gas cooler.

1 is the gas producer, which preferably is made of iron and providedwith a nre-proof lining. The top part 2 of the producer constitutes thecharnber, into which fuel is introduced. rlhe said chamber is providedwith a cover 3. The inner cross i0 section or the producer is contractedat 4, a distance below the cover and is then widened, so that the lowerpart or the chamber 5, in which the gas is produced, is wider. The saidchamber 5 is provided at its bottom with a grate 6. Air 445 eiecting thecombustion is introduced at the contracted part 4 of the producer andthrough a pipe 7. In the producer, which works in accordance with theso-called inverted system, the produced gas escapes from the chamber 8under the 5 0 grate 6 through a pipe 9, in which it passes to the gascooler l0.

The gas is introduced at 11 into the chamber 12 of the cooler, passesfrom the same downwards through a group of narrow channels 13 to achamber 14 and further through a group of channels (Cl. L)iS-m64) 15 inopposite direction to the chamber 16. The channels may be divided into agreater number of groups if necessary. The main thing is that thedirection of the gas current is changed in order that a mixing may beeffected, because the gas when passing in one direction only is cooledonly at the surfaces of the gas columns, while the core is cooled in adegree not worth mentioning. The gas leaves the cooler at 17 and passesthrough a pipe to a gas purier, which is not shown in the drawing andmay be constructed in any suitable manner, for instance of the type,which is based on the centrifugal action, so that heavy particles areforced outwards and separated from the lighter gas.

The cooler 10, Fig. 1, is cooled by means of air, which is forcedthrough the same by a ian 18 and sweeps round the walls of the channels13 and 15. Near the said cooler l0 a second cooler 19 is provided forthe cooling medium of the engine. The same air current, which has passedthrough the cooler 10, passes also the cooler 19 and cools the same. Theordinary cooler of the engine may be used.

Owing to the described arrangement the same air current propelled by thefan will cool both the gas leaving the producer and the cooling mediumof the engine and only one fan is necessary. Preferably, the cooler 19of the cooling medium of the engine is located behind the cooler 10 ofthe gas in the direction of the air current. In certain applications ofthe invention it may be preferred to place the said apparatus in thereversed order. In certain cases the cooler 10 of the gas may be dividedinto two different parts, located at different parts of the gas current.

Behind the coolers 10 and 19 in the direction of the air current afunnel-shaped enlargement 20 of the pipe 7, supplying air to theproducer, is located. Owing to this arrangement an excess 9 5 ofpressure is imparted to the air. Pipe 7 leads i to the producer. Inorder that the air passing from the coolers and heated by the same maybe still more pre-heated the pipe 7 may be mounted inside the pipe 9, asshown in Fig. 1. The air pipe may, however, ce located round the gaspipe, if wanted.

Under certain circumstances, for instance when anthracite is used asfuel, it may be advantageous to add to the air necessary for theproduction of the gas a certain quantity of steam. In the form ofexecution shown in the drawing the arrangement for the said purpose isas follows:

21 is a reservoir for water located at a level suitable for gaining theproper height of the Water. Water passes from the reservoir 21 through apipe 22 to a pipe 23 located inside the gas pipe 9. The water containedby the said pipe 9 is heated and the produced steam passes at 24 intothe pipe '7 and accompanies the air and is further heated (pre-heated)partly While passing to the chamber 8 and partly inside the same.

By means of the devices described above a combustible gas having a greatheat capacity and a great purity may be produced from charcoal and wood.To this result attributes in a very high degree the eiective pre-heatingof the air previously to its entrance into the producer, which is of anespecially great importance at a variable load of the engine, when theconsumption of gas is not uniform and in its turn has the tendency ofinvolving the generating of a gas with low heat capacity at a badpreeheatmg or the air.

Owing to the fact that the. air is supplied to the gas producer at anadditional pressure an in creased capacity of producing gas per cmci thearea of fire room is gained and hereby a sufficient quantity of gas willbe rapidly produced at a sudden increasing of the load. Further, the ianoperated manually and previously necessary for starting the producer isdispensed with.

The gas purifier mentioned above permits a very high temperature of thegas, which involves the advantage that it may be located also before thecooler of the gas, so that the channels of the gas cooler are notrendered dirty. During certain circumstances it may be necessary toprovide an extra purier of the gas before it enters the engine.

Through the described means for generating and supplying steam thequantity of the same agrees with thequantity of gas, so that the controlis automatic.

The greatest advantages of the device described above compared withdevices previously used consist in that it operates with a high eiciencyi. e. that a great amount of mechanical energy per unit or" volume orWeight of the device is gained, and With a great mechanical efficiencyi. e. that a great amount of mechanical energy per each kilogram of fuelis gained. The said advantages render it possible to run for instancevehicles (traction engines and the like) by means of a cheaper solidfuel, for instance charcoal, While it has been possible previously onlyto use a 1iquid fuel. What an enormous importance these facts Will havein the near future may be best comprehended from the fact thatexperimental engines, manufactured especially for traction engines,involve running expenses amounting to only one half of the expenses forrunning an engine of the same capacity by means of crude naphtha. Tothis may be added, that the expenses for the plant are slight incomparison with previous constructions.

I claim:

Means for introducing preheated air into gas producers utilized forfeeding internal combustion engines, a cooler for the producer gas,coolersI for the engine cooling medium, said coolers being arranged onebehind the other, said means comprising a fan located behind thecoolers, a tube introducing into the gas producer, a funnelshaped Lnieton the end or" said tube, said funnel-shaped air inlet being locatedbehind the fan, whereby the air current produced by the fan andpreheated when passing the coolers is being forced vunder pressure bythe ian through said tube into the producer.

AXEL SVE'DLUND.

